who are you really?
by doodlechick12
Summary: In Genderswapped TBH & BC Universe: Before visiting their hometown of Mystic Falls in 1912, Damon and Stephanie meet a surprising acquaintance in New Orleans. Set right before "somebody that I used to know".


Disclaimer: I do not own the Vampire Diaries.

**A very short one-shot based off of an interview that from Julie Plec mentioning a past friendship between Kol and Damon. There are notes more on that at the end of the fic. **

**Story set before my one-shot, "somebody that I used to know", meaning that it's still 1912, but before the Salvatore's have gone to Mystic Falls, met Sage, and in Steph's case, fallen off the wagon.**

* * *

**who are you really?**

"_And my fingers  
Are bejeweled  
With diamonds and gold  
But that ain't gonna help me now_

_I'm trouble_  
_Yeah trouble now_  
_I'm trouble ya'll_  
_I disturb my town_

_I'm trouble_  
_Yeah trouble now_  
_I'm trouble ya'll_  
_I got trouble in my town."_

_._

_._

Damon was wearing his suit and hat and giving easy, seductive grins to each of the pretty women that eyed him in the sweltering heat of the New Orleans bar. His sleeves were rolled up to his elbows and his tie was loose, exposing the pale skin of his throat. Next to him, Stephanie had shed some of her more voluminous skirts and her wavy hair was hanging down at her shoulders, green eyes sparkling as she avidly spoke about literature to a young man on her other side.

"Thank you," Damon winked at the pretty blonde a few seats away as he accepted another glass of bourbon from the barkeep. He downed it and his already hazy mind grew cloudier.

"I think I will have what he is having, thank you," An accented voice said and the seat on Damon's right was taken up by dapper young man with brown hair and matching dark eyes. He was pale, an unusual trait for those of New Orleans, but not for England, from which his accent suggested he had originated.

The barkeep (who was finally tired of returning to the same customer over and over again) just sighed and left the bottle with a warning glare that encouraged Damon to scrounge around in his pocket until he came up with the money to pay for it. The man snatched the money and stomped off to attend to another patron in a swirl of dust.

"To have generated such a response I imagine that you've been here quite a while," The English man observed with an arched brow and quirked lip. His brown eyes were full of mischief and he had the look of a man itching for trouble and maybe a good brawl.

"Just a bit," Damon slurred and pinched his pointer finger and thumb in a poor estimation of time. He frowned, furrowing his brows and began counting his fingers sloppily.

"Kol," The man introduced himself and he stuck out a hand. Damon blinked before grabbed and shook once. Kol's face was the picture of amusement as he watched Damon's drunken fumbling.

"Damon." They both lifted their glasses and drank, Kol humming in satisfaction.

"So, what are you doing in this lively town?" Damon asked as he swirled the Bourbon bottle's contents.

"I have roots here, actually," Kol's eyes wandered around the bar, always lingering on the women for a few more seconds than necessary. "Some of my relatives founded it a very long time ago."

Damon twitched.

"How nice," His smile was a little colder. Beside him on his other side, he heard the flow of conversation between his sister and her new friend turn sour, and soon the boy was storming off without a second glance. Damon's eyes flicked to her, and she flushed.

Under her breath so the humans around them wouldn't hear, she murmured, "His blood was getting to me. The smell of it . . . Well, I had to encourage him to leave." Kol's dark eyes snapped up and settled Stephanie and Damon but he said nothing.

"What could you have said to send him storming off?" Damon asked with a quirked lip and wiggling brows. Stephanie glowered, refusing to reply.

Kol's lips pulled up into a merry grin. "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to eavesdrop, well, actually I did. But did you mention blood?"

Stephanie and Damon stilled, almost having forgotten about the other man's presence. Damon straightened, looking suddenly sober as he said, "I think you misheard." He rose in his seat and leant forwards, compelling the man in front of them. "_You didn't hear anything. You're just a drunk British fella who's had a few too many."_

Kol only smirked wider. "I'm afraid that that trick won't work on me, pet," He leant in as if he was sharing a secret, "I'm a vampire too." He winked. Damon and Stephanie exchanged a glance, slightly relaxing even as Kol turned his attention to Stephanie. "I don't think I caught your name, sweetheart."

"Stephanie," Steph introduced, uninterested.

"I'm Kol," The vampire took her hand and placed a delicate kiss on it while Damon's eyes shot daggers. "Lovely to meet you."

"So, who turned you?" Damon interrupted loudly as Kol retrieved his hand.

"My mother," the other vampire gave them a winning smile, "just before she died. She turned us to protect us. Tragic, really, that she didn't get to see what she'd created." Kol gave no indication of whether his mother would be proud of her children or not. The spark of mischief is his eyes said not.

"I'm sorry," Stephanie said immediately. She didn't wish to be rude, but the heady smell of the blood was getting to her head and she wish verily to leave the bar before something happened. Damon, however, was only just getting started and was clearly ready to spend some time with his new friend.

Kol waved her off and the tree settled in at the bar again. "I'd ask you turned you, but I'm not sure I really care."

"Katherine Pierce," Damon said anyway, too drunk to linger over the heartache he still felt. Kol twitched at the mention of the girl and a slow grin spread across his face.

"Katerina?" He asked innocently, but both Salvatore's stiffened. "She was a . . . friend of my brothers once. Glad to know that she's still getting around these days."

"She's dead," Damon said flatly and knocked back another drink.

Kol's eyebrows went upwards and he took a swig of his bourbon, which mostly covered up his next words, "I find that highly unlikely." Damon didn't hear, but Stephanie shot Kol a wary glance.

"So, Damon," Kol continued, "would you have any interest in joining me in a drinking game?"

Steph knew her brother's response before he replied.

"Bring it on."

.

.

.

After a rousing game of darts in which had both of the men soused in, Stephanie was lingering at their sides in an attempt to keep them from exposure or killing any innocents. She was exasperated at their antics, but there was nothing she could do to tear Damon away from his new best friend. Damon and Kol were like long lost brothers; they flirted with similar women (gave each other tips!), played darts with a finely crafted finesse, and drank each other under the table. Damon, being drunk when they started, was tanked as the clock reached midnight.

Steph would have liked to think that was the reason that he stole a kiss from a married woman while her husband sat next to her, but she knew that would be lying to herself (and she enough of that already).

Damon had gotten a bullseye and spun around, spotted the nearest beautiful woman, and snatched her up into his arms. He planted a sloppy kiss straight on her mouth before releasing her, crowing with laughter. Kol swept her up in his arms next, planting a surprisingly soft kiss on her cheek, winking.

The woman pinked and her husband angrily stood and stomped over to the vampires; Stephanie could almost see the steam rising from his ears as his face reddened beneath his scruffy blonde beard.

Stephanie deftly placed herself between the husband and her brother and his friend, desperate to keep the man safe from the thirsty vampires that he would unknowingly cross if he retaliated.

"Excuse my brothers, Sir," Stephanie said firmly, placing and hand on the human's chest. "They're drunk and were parading about in celebration for their game. No genuine harm was intended, I assure."

The man frowned down at Stephanie, and the vampire grudgingly had to look up towards the man's face; he was nearly 6' 2" and looked to be formidable – in any normal circumstance. In this scenario, the only possible outcome was his injury and possible death by Damon or Kol's hands.

"Ma'am, they hurt my wife's inscrutable honor. I'm going to have to ask you to move."

"I don't think so," Stephanie said and squared her shoulders. She was unprepared for Kol's slim fingers to slide around her shoulders and physically move her so that she was out of the way.

"Now, now, pet. If the man thinks he has something to say, let him say it," Kol's grin was all teeth and savagery. Damon sidled up to his other side and threw an arm around the Brit's shoulder.

The human only gave them a vicious smile. Then he put his fingers up to his mouth and whistled loudly and piercingly, causing the vampires to flinch subtly. All at once, a huge group of the man's friends descended and circled the three vampires.

The man gave Steph a patronizing glance. "Ma'am, if you'd take a step out of the way."

Nostrils flaring, Stephanie looked up at the man indignantly. "I'll have to decline the offer. Sir. Got to stick with family." She slid off her long satin gloves that went up to her elbows and tossed them backwards over her shoulder. They fluttered to the floor.

There had to be some unseen signal, but the men charged them then, aiming at the idiocy named Kol and Damon. Stephanie launched herself into the fray, if only to keep her brother and new friend from murdering innocent people who were only defending a woman they held in high regard.

"_Sleep," _She compelled the men she got to look her in the eye so that they were safe on the ground and not in the middle of the fray. She chanced a look over at Damon and Kol was dismayed, if unsurprised, that they were taking to slugging, tripping, and feeding on their opponents. "No killing," She hissed at them.

The lead man picked up and chair and drew back, hitting Damon across the shoulders with it. Being so inebriated made Damon's reflexes slow, so he went down as hard as rock. Several men descended on his fallen body and Stephanie dove in their direction reflexively. Kol leapt to their defense as well, taking to snapping necks instead of anything temporary. Damon surprised them all, though she knew it shouldn't have, by sweeping out a leg and knocking over two men at once and leaping back upwards drunkenly. By then, the only ones left brawling were men with injured pride, but they were easily taken care of.

"Ha!" Damon slurred and Stephanie took a step towards him and slugged him in the shoulder will all the force of her enhanced vampire strength. Damon flinched and swayed.

"I said not to kill anyone," She hissed angrily and waved a hand. "You just killed at least three of them in cold blood! Not to mention Kol snapping necks here and there like they were ants!"

"I was provoked," Damon denied, even as Stephanie drug him by his arm out of the bar, leaving her jacket and gloves behind somewhere on the floor. Kol wished the humans good lives and tagged along cheerily.

Stephanie muttered darkly under her breath and knew that she'd have to return after finding a place to stay the night to clean up the mess of the bodies and the memories of those still alive.

"Well, Miss Stephanie, Damon," Kol's voice was loud in the pitch black night. Only crickets were chirping and a few cars meandered passed. "This has been swell, but I've got to meet some family in town." He tipped an imaginary hat. "Maybe we'll meet again, pets."

"If you would be kind enough to compel the people in the bar to forget we were here, that would be nice," Stephanie said acerbically. Honestly. New to this life as they were (at only a few decades), Stephanie thought that all the vampires they met were the same; unsavory and usually left cleaning up the bloody messes to the Salvatore's. I.e., Stephanie.

However, Kol took one look at her narrowed green eyes and surprisingly nodded. "Anything for the lady." He winked again and said something quietly into Damon's ear that sent the other vampire into guffaws, before disappearing back the way they'd come.

"No more new acquaintances in bars," Stephanie swore.

"He was good fun," Damon slurred in protest.

"Right up to the bar fight or after?"

Damon only hummed in response and Stephanie led him away to the hotel room they were staying at. Finally, he responded, astonishingly clearly for a drunken man, "Let's go back to Mystic Falls soon."

"And what? Investigate the murders going on there?" Stephanie arched one eyebrow. She didn't believe for a minute that Damon cared for those poor people that were being reported in all the newspapers.

"Revisit the past," Damon said vaguely

"Sure, Damon," Stephanie rolled her eyes, unwilling to argue with Damon that night. She'd do it when he was sober. "Whatever you want."

.

.

.

* * *

In the interview, Julie Plec said:

["Our intention was to have them cross in a very fun 'who was that guy?' kind of moment," Plec tells us, "but then we ended up the story went in a different direction. We had a whole great Damon/Kol night out." The moment was never actually written or shot, so doesn't expect to see it on your DVD extras. It featured a lighthearted drunken bar brawl. "A kind of drunk, don't remember anything, but in our drunken night of brotherhood we had a moment [thing]," Plec says. It'll have to live on in your imaginations.]


End file.
